Beautiful Barbra! has a beautiful opening night
SANDTON – Beautiful Barbra! has a successful opening night at Theatre on the Square.
Another tribute musical revue hit Sandton’s Auto & General Theatre on the Square on the night of 20 July, this time honoring the timeless Barbra Streisand.
Beautiful Barbra! features Cat Simoni’s voice and the original orchestrations and arrangements by SA music industry legend Johan Laas. The production was created and is directed by Paul Spence, and includes descriptions of Streisand’s life as well as the beautiful arrangements of her songs such as On A Clear Day, People, The Way We Were, Papa Can You Hear Me?, Ne Me Quitte Pas and Send in the Clowns.
“It is quite an undertaking to do [Barbra’s] songs,” Simone said. She explained that she intended for this show to not be a Barbra impersonation. “Instead, we intended to bring her music out to the public again. These songs don’t deserve to die.”
Laas also expressed his love for the music in the performance and said, “[I was] lucky to be able to rearrange it. I worked on the arrangements for four months before we even started rehearsing. I wanted to make sure that I did it exactly the way that I wanted it.”
The audience responded well to the performance. Audience member Michelle Vanwyk said, “I loved it. I love Barbra, I love Cat, and I thought the pianist was amazing and the lighting of the performance was great.”
When asked about how he believed the opening night went, Spence said, “It went wonderfully. With two standing ovations, we really couldn’t ask for more.”
The production will be at the theatre for two weeks with six performances per week including two shows on Saturdays at 5pm and 8.30pm.
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